Irony in Contracts
by Lydia the tygeropean
Summary: A.U. Asuna's village never liked her for two reasons; her being an outsider, and the fact she has a deadly illness. But her compassion prevents her from saying 'no' whatever is asked of her, even when they ask her to be eaten by the local monster. But the beast that was suppose to end her life has given her a new outlook on things. A/K
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own SAO or its characters or plot, and that all I got.**

Chap. 1

In the country of Kazuto, a small village sits along the border of a forest. This forest surrounds a mountain that houses monsters. For centuries a gigantic beast would come down the mountain, attacking and eating the villagers, until an agreement was made that the attacks would stop if every ten years a human given for the monster to eat. Decades of this went on and on; usually prisoners were given, but they began to run out of prisons, and then there were no more.

One day an elderly man came to the village to search a cure for his ailing granddaughter. The villagers were suspicious of him because he was an outsider, and they had become desperate for the ten years was almost up and no one wanted to die, so the villager's decided to give the elderly man to the monster instead. The villagers then thought it would be a good idea that any outsider to stay in the village and sign the contract would be paid to stay in the village, and become the next to be eaten.

What they didn't know, though, was the granddaughter was to be sent to the grandfather's home in the village. Now the girl, Asuna, was a kind child of eight, she was pale with orange hair and brown eyes. The girl always had a smile on her face, to look at her you would have never know she had a terminal disease. Her parents had recently died and her grandfather _was_ the only known living relative. When the villagers soon discovered that she had an illness, everyone kept their distance and despised her. Despite this, Asuna never hated the people or showed them any animosity. She had wondered where her grandfather was, but she had found no trace of him except for his empty house. Since the villagers didn't want anything to do with her, she began to take care of herself. She would make extra sure not to get sick and have food stocked up. Some days she would ask if anyone knew where her grandfather, but she was either ignored or insulted.

Once winter came though, she began to get low on food. She would have gone to the market in the village, but no matter how polite she was, the store owner would shoo her away. She did have some left over money, but what good was it when one can't spend it? So Asuna decided to go into the forest and scavenge out whatever she could find.

No one had told her of a monster that resides in the area. The only fear she had was of the animals she expected to live in the forest. But what she did not expect to find was a boy unconscious, beaten, and bruised in the snow. He had black hair that spiked sharp at the bottom, and his attire was a black snow outfit, he looked about the same age as Asuna, but what struck her as odd was that his ears were slightly pointed and furred; sort of like fuzzy elf ears. Asuna didn't want the boy to freeze to death, so she decided to carry him back to her home. There she placed him on her grandfather's bed and began to clean his wounds. After she was done, the young girl looked to see what she had left to eat since the cupboards were so barren. All she could find was a few small loaves of bread and some chicken stock. She did her best with what she had and made a stew out of the bread and broth. Once the stew was done she took two bowls, and headed up stairs.

Meanwhile up in the room, the boy began to stir awake. He felt the softness of the bed beneath him as his sense started to clear.

'Where, the heck am I?' He thought as the door opened. He put his guard up as Asuna entered the room. She smiled right at him as she placed the tray of stew on the table near the door.

"Oh, you're awake I'm glad." Asuna said to her guest, "I have some food here if you're hungry. Uh, how's your head? Is it sore?" she saw the boy's hands feel his head as soon as she had asked.

"Its fine," he said grunting from the soreness of the rest of his body when he sat up. "Who are you, and where am I?"

"My name is Asuna and this is my home," Asuna answered, bringing, a bowl toward him. "So what's your name?"

"Kirito," he said taking the bowel and took in the scent of the food; causing his stomach to growl. He then looked at Asuna as she began eating the stew. She then noticed that he hadn't eaten yet.

"Sorry I didn't have much to cook with, you see, I was trying to find food when I had found you. I would have gone into the village-."

"Wait, village?" Asuna nodded, suddenly Kirito sat down the stew, tried to scramble out of the covers. "I have to go," he started when he saw the orange haired girl's confused face. "The villagers will kill you if they find me here."

"They won't come," she stated smiling sadly. "Everyone in the village hates me. Besides you're hurt. You wouldn't be able to out run them even if they were coming."

"How do you know? They could be coming at this very moment," Kirito questioned.

"Because I'm… I promise they won't come, please believe me." Asuna didn't want him to know she was ill because she feared he might hate her too. Kirito looked at her carefully; he could see she was scared, but he wasn't sure of what she had to fear. Did she know what he was? He also knew he couldn't very much walk in his condition, so he crawled back under the covers, and began to eat.

From then on the two became close friends, though, both of them kept certain secrets away from each other. The joy didn't last long; Kirito suddenly stopped coming on his visits. Not knowing why, this caused Asuna to think she was the cause, and she hate herself. To keep herself from wallowing in grief she would do certain jobs around the village. Unknowingly, there was one job she signed up for that would change her life forever.

**Okay that's the first chapter, sorry for the lack of dialogue but there will be more in the next chapter. Edit: Fixed some grammer mistakes**


	2. Chapter 2

**Cool, I didn't think I'd get so many favs. Any who on to the next chapter. the segment before the chapter begins is a kind of prelude to the story it gives forshadowing to the chapter.**

_Asuna hid behind the trunk of a tree as she scaned her surrounding. Seeing the coast was clear, she zigzagged through the woods; she was almost to her house when she felt a sudden grip on her arm. It wasn't tight, but strong enough to make the young girl lose balance from running and she fell on her rear._

_"Tag, you lose." Asuna turned to see Kirito smirking as he held her arm. _

_"Fine you won the game," Asuna sighed in defeat. They had been playing hide and seek mixed with tag. This was one of the games they would play when Kirito would visit. Kirito and Asuna had been friends for six months now, and the two were almost inseparable._

_"Hey Kirito," Asuna said getting up._

_"Yeah?" He replied having a curious look on his face._

_"Can I visit your house sometime?" Kirito looked taken aback as Asuna blushed in embarrassment. _

_____The dark claded boy smiled at her before answering. _"Sorry, Asuna, but my family would eat you alive," he joked. He laughed a bit as she crossed her arms. Then they both noticed how dark it was getting.

_"Hey I'll see you tomorrow," Kirito said and went on his way, not knowing what layed in store back in his home. The glaring of his Uncle._

Chap.2

10 years later…

"Asuna, go milk the cows!" A middle-aged farm woman yelled as said girl went and picked up the buckets. "And put your mask on. I don't want you breathing on my animals."

"Yes, Mrs. Inka," Asuna smiled despite the insult. It had been ten years since Asuna took up a certain job posting, and immediately they-the villagers-started to treat her differently. Though she had to cover up her face and skin whenever she entered the village or did jobs, they at least gave her food and attend school with other kids. But it didn't take long for Asuna to learn why she got the new treatment.

"Hey, monster meat, you ready to get eaten?"

Asuna stopped heading toward the barn, and turned to the owner of the voice; it was one of the girls from school with her clique. The girl had had black hair with braided pigtails, and was not very pretty to look at having a huge nose that took up most of her face. She sneered as she waited for Asuna to answer.

"It doesn't matter, just as long as the monster is kept away from the village for another ten years."

"What's wrong with you? Aren't you scared," one of the clique members shouted.

Ignoring her, Asuna just looked down and went on her way to the barn. Truth be told when she first found out what her 'job' was she was scared out of her mind, but she then remember what the doctors had told her and her parents when she first found out about her illness.

"_I'm sorry to say this, but your daughter's has Pholipid Anemia. It won't let her live past her thirties at the maximum, not including if she were to get sick or an accident were to occur. Even then her health will deteriorate as time progress, and her immune system will begin to turn on her, causing her severe pain. And with her blood being too thin even the smallest of cuts could be fatal."_

The doctor's words rang true; every so often her body would go into severe aches. Sometimes she couldn't get out of bed. With that in mind, even the villagers started to talk her into being eaten. Continuously, they would say the same things.

"_You don't want us all to die, do you, Asuna?_"

"_Our blood will be on your hands, if you don't help us."_

"_If you do it, our village would be eternally grateful to you."_

It went on and on until their words finally convinced her. Plus, the years of loneliness had taken its toll on her. Asuna had begun to think she wasn't worth caring about; she had no family and the only friend she had she hasn't seen in years. It took little time before her fear turned to apathy, and Asuna finally accepted the 'job' she was forced into. But that didn't mean it still didn't linger.

As Asuna finished milking the cows, she saw a fancy carriage pull up to Mrs. Inka's house. She saw the mayor come out in his purple and gold robe, and black hair. His face was very unattractive with his high cheek bones, but Asuna was too nice to ever tell him that. She walked up and greeted him.

"Hello, Mayor Kuradeel, what brings you here?"

"Ah, hello Asuna," he turned to her with a look that sent chills down her spine. "I'm here to see you actually; do you know what today is?"

"Is it _that_ day…?" Asuna asked slightly afraid.

"Yes, the day you've been waiting ten years for," the Mayor said all too enthusiastic; he grabbed Asuna's arm causing her to drop the milk, and then shoved her into the carriage and then sat himself across from her.

"You know, it's a shame that you had picked this 'job'; you probably could have gotten married," Kuradeel said with fake sympathy as the carriage moved. "Was there any boy you liked here in our village?"

"No, no one would love a dying girl anyway," Asuna answered distantly looking out the window. She was thinking about Kirito, and thought of a reason why he never came to see her again. She wondered if maybe he was eaten by the monster. He had told her once that he lived beyond the forest with his aunt, uncle, and cousin.

"Well, anyway, when we get to town hall you will be given a basket of fruits and vegetables. This is for the monster just in case he doesn't like how you will taste and doesn't go smashing our village."

Asuna had tuned most of what Kuradeel was saying, until he had said something about her grandfather and that he begged for his life. The young girl's head flew toward his direction as he had quickly covered his mouth.

"Wait, what about my grandfather?!"

"Uh, nothing, nothing, forget I said anything," Kuradeel lied in an obvious tone trying to cover his little slip up.

"You said he begged for his life! Did you make him do this too?!" Asuna's apathy started to be replaced by shock and anger. These people made her lose the only family she had left. This village was full of murders, and she had been too naïve to see that.

"Yes, he did beg, but that won't change anything." Kuradeel suddenly seized Asuna and grabbed her around the shoulders. He had pressed a cloth full of chloroform to her mouth and nose. Asuna tried to claw at his arm, but it was in vain because she had scrummed to the drug. Kuradeel smiled sadistically as she had gone limp.

Hours had past when Asuna regained consciousness, she lay on her left side on the ground. By the time she woke up, nighttime had already fallen. She tried to move but was tied up by three ropes that were wrapped around her Shoulders, waist, and feet. A white cloak also shrouded her entire body. Looking at her surroundings the best she could, she saw she was in the middle of the forest; more closer to the mountains. The trees made everything darker, and the animals didn't make a sound. Asuna could see the two baskets of food laying in front of her as if to taunt her as her stomach growled.

After a while, Asuna's thoughts had went back to Kirito. She remembered a conversation they had at one point that made her realize how shortsighted she had been. They were lying on the grassy field, when Kirito asked her something.

"_Hey, Asuna, how come you live alone, but have two beds at your house?"_

"_Well, the one bed was my grandfather's, but I haven't seen him since I moved here. I asked the villagers once if they've seen him, but no one tells me anything."_

"_Don't you think it's strange? Your grandfather disappears and the villagers hate you ever since you moved here; they could have killed him."_

_Asuna stared at him in shock she had never heard of people doing such awful things, being only eight at the time; she was unaware of how bad people could be._

"_I don't think they would be that cruel, I mean yeah they don't like me, but I don't think they would cause a child to be left alone." Kirito looked like he didn't agree._

"_Sometimes people don't always need a reason to be cruel, but just be careful around those people,"Kirito had warned her._

'If only I had listened,' Asuna thought as she lay on the ground. Then out of nowhere she felt the ground shake; the birds in the sky flew opposite of where it originated. She heard the trees crack and snap like twigs. The shaking grew closer and loud stomping could be heard.

It came closer and closer; tears started to spill from Asuna as she could see the beast come towards her. It stood on two legs, looking as big as a house; it had dark features that almost match the darkness of the sky. The glow of his eyes yellow showed his long face. Asuna could also see the fur and spikes on its body.

Asuna stiffened when the monster's eyes landed upon her. She felt her heart stop as his right hand reached out to grab her. Asuna now knew she was about to die. Fear gripped her as she was picked her up. The Jaws came closer and encircled her; Asuna had one last thing she wanted to scream before her death. She didn't care if it was never heard but she had to let it out.

"Kirito, I love you!" she braced herself for the jaws to crush her, but she could only feel the heat of the monster's breath as it breathed. Suddenly, Asuna felt herself being pulled away from the jaws. The hand then brought her up to eye level. It pulled down on the hood of her cloak. Asuna was too confused to catch the look that graced the monster's face. It then began to speak to the frightened girl in a deep voice.

"Tell me something, why are you here?" the monster asked.

"T-to be eaten," Asuna answered a little dazed.

"Is that what you want?"

"No, I thought I did because it was for a good cause, but now I don't know what I want." Why was the monster asking her questions? The arm that was holding Asuna was starting to tire. Suddenly, a large left hand came toward the tied up girl. The monster's hand cut the ropes and then set Asuna on top of his snout; she felt the soft fur as he continued to ask his questions.

"Who was the person you said you loved?" Asuna blushed a bit.

"Kirito, but I haven't seen him in years."

"Would you say you loved him if he was here right now?"

"Yes" Asuna honestly answered. "But he may not feel the same way."

"What if he did, what if he asked you to marry him?" the monster pushed on almost desperately.

"Then I would say, yes," she answered a little taken aback by his question.

"Why?" he asked almost disbelieving her. He wanted to know if her feelings were true.

"Because…" Asuna said tearing up as she thought. "Because he was the only one who had treated me like I was wanted; like I wasn't a freak, or…like a virus! But I don't know if he's dead or alive… he never came to see me one day, and I waited for him. I thought maybe it was my fault and I began to hate myself."

She burst into tears, not noticing that the monster had sat her back on the ground. He looked at her for a moment before asking his last question. He said this one in a shameful tone.

"Would you love him if he was a man-eating monster?"

Asuna's stopped crying to try and process that question, she then looked in shock as the monster shrank into a familiar form. Her eyes widened as she could only mutter one word.

"Kirito?"

**Hope you liked the chapter, and I made up the disease using two different kinds of diseases. Anemia and Antiphosolipid, I tried finding a real disease, but none of them really suit of how I wanted the story to go. Edit: Grammer mistakes fixed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow I'm actually shocked on how many people liked this. I didn't think it get this many followers. Well, anyway forgive me for my slow updates; I have Dyslexia and ADHD (the not so hyperactive one)so it gets hard to keep on track. Oh I also wanted to let you know that before each chapter I'm adding preludes to each chapter, and I had added one on the second chapter so if you haven't read it please do so. Now the preludes won't be in order exactly, but it will be alluded to in the chapter that it's on. Also it will show some of Kirito and Asuna's feels toward each before he had disappeared, and showing the cause behind it.**

_It was a couple days after Kirito had recuperated from his injuries, and gone back home. He couldn't stop thinking about how Asuna had helped him. He wanted to repay her kindness, and then he remembered that she didn't seem to have much food when he had left. So the next day he got up early and caught a few fish from the freezing river near the mountain, and gutted them. He walked all the way to his new friend's house, but stopped suddenly when he looked at the snow. A small crimson red trail led into the small cottage. Its sent waved past Kirito's nose. The sickening smell of iron made it clear that it was blood. Fear filled the young boy as he rushed into the house._

"_Asuna!" he called in a panic as he rushed into the house. He found most of her snow gear on the floor, exceptfor her hat. Kirito then heard faint whimpering, and headed toward the direction of the sound in the back of the house. He then looked in the back room and found Asuna, holding a rag to her shoulder, crying. The rag, that was originally white, now stained red. Asuna turned to Kirito with tears in her eyes._

"_It won't stop," she sobbed, "the bleeding won't stop."_

_Kirito walked over slowly to Asuna. "Here, let me take a look at the wound."_

_Asuna hesitantly took off the rag so Kirito could see her injury. The cut was thin; it looked like it wouldn't have bled as much as it did. It was too thin to be a knife cut, or even if she had fallen, it would have been rigid. _

"_Asuna, how did you get this?" Kirito turned back to the girl._

"_I-I was in the forest looking for a fruit that could grow in the snow." Asuna said sobering up, and then pointed at a couple of books about fruit. "One of the pages said that certain berries grow in temperate forests. I went out searching, but I suddenly heard a loud 'bang' and something went past my arm. That's when it started to bleed. I ran home as fast as I could to stop the bleeding."_

"_Hm. Let me see if I can get the bleeding to stop, and then I'll go see what it was that cut you." Kirito said as he tried looking for something to clot the bleeding. Afterwards he had found some medicine that acted like a sealant and placed it on the cut. Kirito then also showed her the fish he had caught and saw Asuna's face light up in gratitude. _

_A little later Kirito went to see what had hit her. He had a feeling of what it was, but wanted to be sure. He fallowed the trail of blood drops until he saw someone ahead of the trail and hid in some nearby bushes. It was a man in a hunting outfit. That day Kirito made sure he would never forget his face. He despised anyone who would hurt his friends, and never forgot their faces. He also vowed to protect Asuna at any cost._

Chap. 3

"Kirito?" Asuna said in shock, "is that really you?" He looked older, he wore a tunic like outfit that was the same color as the fur he previously had. His eyes weren't yellow anymore, but they looked ebony colored and wiser.

"Yeah, it's me," he said sadly. "Are you going to run away from me? Now that you know that I'm a monster?" The response he got was a, surprisingly, very firm hug from the light Asuna.

"You dummy, I everything I told you was true. And yes, I would love you even if you were a monster." Asuna confirmed, and then there was a moment of silence. Then something dawned upon Asuna, "Kirito, were you the same monster that was here ten years ago?"

"No, I didn't get my beast form until I had hit puberty. The person who had this village last was-." Kirito was suddenly cut off as the ground began quake. He turned behind himself to find it coming from the direction he had come from. With quickness he grabbed Asuna and told her to stay hidden in the bushes. He returned to his monster form and took the cloth that Asuna was wrapped in. He stuffed it into his mouth, but letting a piece of it hang out of his mouth.

Something bigger was coming out of the forest. It was much larger than Kirito. It was another creature that was like Kirito, except it looked more like a wolf with red eyes. He didn't have quills, but his fur appeared prickly.

"So Kirito how was your first tasted of human," the giant monster asked looking down at him.

"Fine Minetaka," Kirito said swallowing the cloak.

"Only 'fine'? How dissatisfying, I guess I'll-" Minetaka stopped mid-sentence when his ears picked up something. Asuna and Kirito both held their breath. The hulking monster walked toward one of the trees near Asuna. He suddenly sliced one of them down. Out of the branches were the Mayor and his assistant.

"Ooh, lookie here," laughed Minetaka.

Kirito looked at the Mayor in shock. He had seen him when he was a kid; he remembered Kuradeel was the one who shot at Asuna! He then saw Minetaka pick up the dark-haired Man. He brought the man to the front of his face.

"The human you gave us was most dissatisfying. You know the consequences for this."

"But the Apples are to make up for that!" Kuadeel wailed shaking in fear.

"We don't come here for Apples, now do we?" before letting the man give answer he reared his jaws up.

"WAIT!" Kirito shouted. He wanted to know why the Mayor shot at Asuna, but it was too late.

Asuna turned away with tears in her eyes as the man was swallowed up. She covered her mouth to muffle the scream in her throat. She then turned back to look at the creature that had just eaten a man she only talked to hours prior. He looked down at the traumatized assistant.

"You, you're the new Mayor, now go home," Was all he said as he began to walk over to Kirito who stared emotionlessly. The Assistant made a mad dash back to the village.

"You think you can handle this place while I'm gone?" the monster asked placing a hand on Kirito's right shoulder. In response Kirito only nodded. "Good boy." Minetaka then left disappearing behind the stunned boy. When his steps couldn't be heard anymore, Kirito picked a scared Asuna who stared up at him in a dazed shock.

"Asuna, are you okay?"

"I w-will be," she stuttered.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Kirito said placing Asuna on his shoulder.

"Where are we going?"

"Someplace where you'll be safe," he said as he began walking toward the mountain.

**I'm sorry this so late; it's been a busy month for me. Also running on cell wi fi stinks.**


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